Recently I watched a movie with some friends. I don’t remember the title anymore and the picture itself was only memorable in as much as it was odd. For a while, it was difficult to put my finger on it. And even now, it is hard to say, what produced the strange feeling of misalignment. Maybe everything was just a little bit too much. A little bit off-center. A little bit unbalanced. Consequently none of us could really say, if we liked the movie or not.
Not long after cinematography began victoriously marching over the face of the earth, the majority of countries decided, it was more difficult to keep the peace than to fight a war. Franz Ferdinand of Austria had just been fatally interrupted while enjoying the beautiful city of Sarajevo, when the Great War broke out. The world plunged into the chaos we now call World War I. At that point America had become a major player in the movie industry. But due to the blockade of Germany, Charlie Chaplin was nowhere to be seen in Central Europe. So in order to keep watching moving pictures, the Germans had to produce their own. A German movie scene began to shoot independently, experimenting with different techniques and perspectives. One thing this expressionist movement became famous for, was a type of camera shot called the Dutch angle. (The Word Dutch here is a bastardization of the Word deutsch, as the Germans refer to themselves. It has nothing to do with the Dutch.) A Dutch angle is basically any angle, where the picture is not parallel to the horizon. It is like tilting your head while watching the scene. This forced change in perspective has interesting effects on the viewer. It makes the scene seem odd and somewhat wrong. Nowadays it is mainly used to show and produce uneasiness. A common example would be to demonstrate nausea or the result of drugs. Often combined with altered colors and interesting focus settings. It is a bit tricky and can easily be used the wrong way. (A wonderfully bad example is the movie Battlefield Earth, where the Dutch angle is senselessly overused.)
The movie we watched, did not use the Dutch angle. At least, not that I remember. But it caused a similar uneasiness. Everything was somewhat odd and tilted, a distortion of reality. The main theme was the conflict between master and servant, strange for a film set in modern times. And as so often, the movie just scratched the topic instead of unfolding it completely. But there was one sentence that made me think.
In the movie a man offers his unpaid services as a butler to a couple. Thrown into the role of being his master, they have problems filling their new position. As they fail to look down on their new employee sufficiently the butler addresses a problem he sees in this day and age. “People nowadays are too big to serve and too small to rule.”
I may have mentioned, that my favorite name of God is Emmanuel. God with us. I like this name the most, because it is the one thing that sets the Jewish and Christian faith apart from every other believe. Our natural instinct is to see god in the distance and then try to find a way to appease him. If we work hart enough, we are allowed into his presence. God is so very different. He knows, we will never be able to justify ourselves. So he is telling us to stop trying. We shall wait were we are, He is coming to us. God send His perfect Son as an example for us. He paved the way back to the Father. And Jesus send the Holy Spirit to help us live the New Life.
Even before God created humans the Father discusses with His two best friends, His Son and the Holy Spirit, what He has planed for them. “Let us make humans,” he says, “so that they can rule over all creation.” (Genesis 1:26) That is the first job, we are called to do. Even before this multiplying and filling the earth thing. But it only takes two chapters for Adam and Eve to forfeit there right to reign. So this is where we stopped being big enough to rule. And at this very moment we believed the lie, that we are better of, living as our own masters. We don’t have to serve God anymore. To be honest, we did not become to big to serve. Only our ego did. Nevertheless, we lost the ability to serve the right way.
Of course the butler in the movie mend something different. He is mourning that most people are not selfish enough (or to timid) to force there will on others. And the rest is not self-destructive enough, to enjoy being pushed around. Like this is how the world should be.
As so often the world is half right. Yes, we are called to serve. To serve each other by laying down our lives, the way Jesus laid down His. And at the same time, we are called to rule. But not out of our own, but sitting on the throne of Jesus. On His lap. And we are called to rule creation not each other. (That is really important, I think.) Without God, we are still aiming for the right things, but with the wrong methods. We are just a little bit off, like a tilted image. But a little bit makes all the difference for eternity. Two lines can only stay close to each other, when they are perfectly parallel. The slightest angle will let them diverge. So yes, we want to rule. And we are called to do so. But there is only one way to realize that. We must follow the example of Jesus, giving up the idea we have a right to rule over others. Because only by taking up our cross and dying with Christ, we perfectly align ourselves with Him, to rule with Him for eternity. And no, we can’t do that out of our selfish nature. Our ways are crooked, His Way is straight. Our view is tilted, His View is level with reality. We need God with us. We need Emmanuel. And the Holy Spirit is here to help.
